Sabaku no Child
by sweet-and-simple
Summary: Sabaku no Gaara wanted a friend.  Except… dragging the other children back by their ankles to play with him didn't seem to work how he wanted it to.  Then Rock Lee happened.  No actual pairings
1. What if

Sabaku no Gaara wanted a friend. Except… dragging the other children back by their ankles to play with him didn't seem to work how he wanted it to. His uncle wasn't happy with him, anyway, even if Shu was telling him that he had done the right thing. He _should_ have dragged them back to him, hurt them – just a little bit – because everyone wanted to be friends with someone who was powerful.

His uncle had told him not to listen to Shu, though, so he didn't, and he escaped to the swing set. His shadow watched him as he creaked back and forth and he watched his shadow, wondering why it couldn't play with him. Why have a shadow if all it did was follow him? He raised the sand, danced it around the playground, and frowned when his shadow remained.

"You're useless," he told the black shape. It shivered as ground rustled. Shu growled and he blinked down at the teddy bear squeezed to his chest. "What's wrong, Shu?" Wait, he wasn't allowed to talk to Shu…

"Who is Shu, if you don't mind my asking?"

Gaara jerked and looked over his shoulder. A man was crouched some distance behind him, wearing a leaf forehead protector around his waist. Numbly, he held the bear up for the man to see.

The man smiled at him. "So Shu is your teddy bear? How cute! Well, Suna youth, my name is Rock Lee! What's yours?"

"… Gaara…"

The ninja frowned for a second, but then it was gone and he was smiling again. "Sabaku no Gaara? No one bothered to tell me how adorable you are! Do you mind if I swing with you?"

'_Adorable? He thinks I'm adorable?' _He tried to make the words make sense but him and adorable had never been put in the same sentence before. Slowly, he nodded.

Lee swung up and into the swing beside his… and then brought half the swing set down with him as the ropes on his swing snapped and Gaara's sand rose defensively to pick him up before he fell with him. "Hah hah hah! Forgive me, I forgot about my weights… Goodness, how embarrassing. I will have this fixed before I leave or I shall run backwards all the way from here to Konohagakure singing _Pretty Girl_, YOSH!"

Gaara frowned at the thumbs up Lee gave the sky. "What are you talking about?"

"Ah, sorry, I am always working to test myself, so when I say I will do something, I always make certain to have a backup challenge in case I fail. Do not worry, though! I will not fail this time! I can see that you enjoy spending your time here, I would not want to take that away from you."

Gaara was very confused. This man… didn't seem afraid of him. Or angry. He was really… nice. Hesitantly, the little redhead smiled.

Lee stared for a long moment and then squealed. "You have the most beautiful smile, Gaa-chan – do you mind if I call you Gaa-chan? YOSH, your smile lights up my day! … Ah, but so is the sun. Come, come, I'm sure we can think of something to do in the shade… if we can find shade. Hhmmm…"

Gaara reached out, slowly, unsurely, and took the ninja's hand. Lee flashed him a look but just kept smiling as Gaara helped him back to his feet.

"Thank you, Gaa-chan! You are so sweet!" Lee ruffled his hair. "Now, where do we go from here…"

"… Lee?"

"Hhm?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Well, why shouldn't I be? You're such a nice, gentle boy, I would feel like the lowest of the low – no, even lower than that! – if I was mean to you."

"R-really?" Gaara's eyes lit up. His uncle was the only one who was ever so nice to him. He brought his one hand up to his chest and squeezed over his heart. It was thumping really hard and it felt… it felt really good. His heart felt _good_! Was this medicine? But Lee didn't love him, Lee was just being nice to him… Was niceness another form of medicine? He'd have to ask his uncle.

"YOSH! Now, let's be off!"

Gaara was smiling… right up until his world spun wildly. Shu roared and the sand attacked and his vision was blurry and he couldn't breathe and then –

Then he realized that he was on Lee's back and they were in the shadows on the opposite side of the village where the sun wasn't high enough to touch. That was a strange transportation jutsu…

Lee put him down gently and laughed as he held him aloft till he stopped swaying. "Are you alright, Gaa-chan?"

He had never wanted to throw up before. He really didn't like the feeling of it. But he managed a nod and clung to Lee's arm. A wave of sand splashed around the corner of the building they were behind and tided down on them like a tsunami. Or would have, except they were a few feet away from the collision when it happened and Gaara frowned as his insides rose to his throat.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, I guess I should have thought of your ultimate defense before I brought you here! I was just so excited because I've heard so much about you and I was so happy to learn that – … I was very happy to learn that you are so much better than what I thought you would be."

Gaara wondered what that meant for a moment. An image of kids running away from him came to mind and he hung his head. Oh.

"No worries! Rock Lee is here to spend the day with you! YOSH, what do you want to do, Gaa-chan?"

"… Anything I want to do?"

"Absolutely anything!"

Gaara looked down at Shu who stared back at him with black button eyes. He smiled. "I want to play catch!"

.

Yashamaru was worried. A tidal wave of sand had rocked the village a few hours ago and not a single jounin had been able to come back and report the location of his nephew. He was missing. _Gaara was missing_!

He watched Kaze fly into a frenzy, glaring. _'This is all your fault, you selfish man.'_ But he couldn't say that for obvious reasons. Kaze didn't appreciate others opinions, wasn't that apparent? Yashamaru waited till the man tired of glowering at his desk and ordering search party after search party to find the child he would never admit to being his son.

"Why don't _you_ go look for him? Wouldn't you have better luck?" Yashamaru smiled deceivingly. "You, after all, _always_ know what to do."

"Yashamaru," Kaze growled, "shut up." He seemed to realize the wisdom of his words, ignoring his sarcasm, however, as he shrugged out of his robe and folded it over the back of his chair. "I'm going out. If anyone has to talk to me, tell them to hold."

"Of course, kazekage-sama," he chirped icily. "Good luck."

He left and Yashamaru was by himself. He stared at his feet. _'Please be safe, Gaara… Please, I need you to be okay…'_

"Ah, Yashamaru-san! I believe this is yours?"

His gaze flickered to the window and the Konoha jounin who had claimed the sill for his own. "Ah, yes, thank you, that is – _Gaara_? Oh, Gaara, I was so worried!"

Lee put the redhead gently on the ground and swung into the room. Gaara smiled up at Yashamaru and ran up to him, hugging his leg. "Uncle, this is Lee." He was practically glowing with joy. "He's my friend."

"Is he now?"

"Yeah! We played catch and tag and shadow puppets and house and we raced and we fixed the swings…" he stopped, grinned so widely it was like his face was going to split, and laughed. He _laughed_.

Yashamaru's vision blurred and he self-consciously rubbed his eyes clear of tears. "That's so great, Gaara, it sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"I did. And Lee did too! Right, Lee?"

The jounin was smiling softly at the redhead. "YOSH! It was the best fun I've had in months." He crouched down next to Gaara and held out a hand, which Gaara happily shook. "Thank you, Gaa-chan, for being my friend."

_Months_. So Lee was the Konoha ally they had assigned to the joint Suna-Konoha mission. Yashamaru's happiness turned sour. Lee had to begin the trek back home in –he discreetly checked the clock on the wall – no, not _in_, _as of_ two hours ago. Even if he had stayed behind to play with Gaara, he was still going to break the redhead's heart by leaving.

Lee either caught his train of thought or realized that he had something he thought vitally important to tell him. He clapped his hands and shot to his feet. "Which reminds me! Yashamaru-san, is it okay that I swapped home addresses with Gaa-chan? I do not want to lose connection with my friend! Until I am next sent here, I would like to continue mailing him."

Gaara looked so hopeful, so heartbreakingly hopeful… Yashamaru wrapped him up in one arm and brought Lee into a hug with the other. "I would… I would love it if you would stay in connection with my nephew."

'_Finally'_ he thought at his late twin, _'someone who recognizes just how amazing your baby boy is.'_ But there was still one matter to take care of. "Gaara? Would you mind stepping outside for a moment? I have to talk to Lee about something."

"About what?" Gaara asked innocently. That damn teddy bear stared up at Yashamaru and though he knew that it was inanimate, he also knew what it represented and he wanted to catch it on fire.

"Lee has to give me his mission report," he lied. Lee had already turned in his report to the front desk when he had returned with his group earlier that day. "It's secret data that can't be said in front of little boys, ne?"

"… Okay, uncle." He turned to Lee. "Do I get to see you before you go?"

"YOSH! Of course, I will come say goodbye to you as soon as I am done in here." He smiled and Gaara, after a small pause, smiled back and then left. The door clicked shut behind him. "… It's alright, I don't want to hurt him."

"I know you don't. Rock Lee, isn't it? You're part of the original Konoha Twelve." Yashamaru decided how to word what he was going to say next, then decided that there really was no way to put things gently. "I've heard of your friendship with the Kyuubi container, Uzumaki Naruto."

Lee was instantly on the defensive, eyeing up Yashamaru as if he was determining in that mind of his whether or not his pal was being insulted.

Yashamaru laughed. "I love my nephew, Lee, jinchuuraki or not. I'm sure Naruto's not that different." Or wasn't, at least. He had heard of the great exploits of Naruto, who had overcome the hatred of his village to become the most beloved hero in nearly half the world. Meanwhile, here was Gaara… who was right where Naruto had begun. He could only hope, wish, pray, _beg the gods_ that Gaara would grow up to become happy. That he would find a place to belong.

Slowly, Lee relaxed. "Hah hah, actually, they are incredibly different! I do not ever remember Naruto-kun being so shy. I think perhaps how people used to treat Naruto-kun for what he had in him is the only thing he has in common to Gaa-chan at this point…"

"… Lee, please know that Gaara… Gaara is fragile. If you really want to become friends with him –"

"I do!"

" – then stay with him for life."

There was a small silence. Then, maybe not so shockingly, Lee laughed. "I did not plan on spending any less time with him! Gaa-chan is amazing and he has a well of love in his heart, untouched by many, and I want to help him – and you – open it up so everyone can see just how beautiful he really is." He looked faraway into the sunset. "If it is okay with you, I would like to bring Naruto-kun here with me the next time I visit. I feel that he could help Gaa-chan greatly."

"We would both really appreciate that," Yashamaru agreed. "Gaara and I both."

"YOSH! Then it is settled! I must say goodbye to Gaa-chan now, thank you for having this talk with me."

"No, Lee, thank _you_. For… everything."

.

In hindsight, Yashamaru should have realized that Kaze would not let Gaara be happy. Gaara had been born to be a weapon and a happy weapon was a malfunctioning weapon.

Three months went by and Gaara never got a single letter from Lee. First Yashamaru was accepting. Maybe Lee had other things to catch up on. Maybe his hokage had forbidden him to have contact with the ruling family of Sunagakure. Maybe something else… Then he was angry. Lee had said he would stay with Gaara for life! Why was he ignoring him already? Why was he breaking his already hurt, burdened heart? That _asshole_!

And then he was suspicious. Lee had been sincere. Lee was widely known as Mr. Nice Guy. Lee wouldn't just ignore a child! And for Lee to ignore all the letters – sometimes three a day – that Gaara sent? Highly unlikely. So he went to the Post office.

"Kazekage-sama ordered us to confiscate and burn all letters received by Rock Lee," the man on duty told him blankly. "They were a national risk."

"And you believed that." Yashamaru rubbed his eyes and ignored how the chuunin answered his rhetorical question. "What about all mail sent by recipient Sabaku no Gaara?"

The chuunin flinched at the name but obediently sifted through his documents. "All mail sent by Sabaku no Gaara was to be confiscated and redirected to kazekage-sama." He didn't offer a reason as to why. He wouldn't need to. Gaara was a jinchuuraki, that was the only reason they ever needed.

"As of this moment, I order all mail sent by Rock Lee to be redirected to me, is that understood?"

"But kazekage-sama said –"

"Is that _understood_?"

The chuunin nodded very slowly as to not cut himself on the kunai grazing his throat. "Yes, Yashamaru-sama."

"Good. Rock Lee and his mail are in no way a risk to our village. If anything, they would be _saving_ it. Now, if kazekage-sama asks, tell him that you are still following his orders. Understood?"

"Yes, Yashamaru-sama."

"Good. And I want all mail sent by Sabaku no Gaara to reach their _original_ destination, understood?"

"Kazekage-sama would be expecting to get those…"

"Tell him that Sabaku no Gaara has ceased sending them, then. _Understood_?"

"… Understood, Yashamaru-sama."

The next month, a messenger handed Yashamaru a letter, bowed quickly, and left. The sender's address was from Konoha.

Feeling like he was offering his nephew rain, he gave Gaara the letter and stayed to watch his expression as he read it. The message was five and a half pages long, front and back, and Gaara read it all three times over in one night, sometimes laughing, sometimes cringing, and always smiling.

He turned to Yashamaru when he was done and looked breathless, like he had just climbed to the top of a mountain and seen the world in all its beauty. "Lee found a kangaroo!" He giggled. "He named him Baunsu. Neji really doesn't like Baunsu, he kicked Neji in the face."

"Did he now?"

"Yes. But then Lee made them make up." He frowned. "Gai made Lee put Baunsu back where he found him, though… Lee cried. Then Baunsu followed him home!"

"That's a nice happy ending."

"Yeah… I'm going to write him a letter back!"

"You do that, Gaara!"

"Uncle… will you help me?"

He smiled. "Of course."

_Note – 'baunsu' means 'bounce'._

.

Lee stayed true to his word.

When he next visited the village, much to the displeasure of their kazekage, he came in tow with a blonde.

"Hey, Gaara, I've heard a lot about you from Bushybrow!"

Gaara held his bear tight to his chest. "Bushybrow…?"

"YOSH! That is what Naruto-kun calls me," Lee explained from beside the jinchuuraki, smiling softly. "Gaa-chan, I really enjoyed your last letter! It's so cool that you and your sister got to fight a sand worm! So dangerous, though…"

"We were okay." But it was obvious that Gaara was proud of himself. Temari had even looked at him differently after that.

Mostly, she had looked at him with more terror. But there had been a hint of sibling affection and Yashamaru felt that she finally understood that, in control of himself, Gaara wouldn't hurt her or Kankuro.

"Sand worm, huh?" Naruto chirped. "I bet Bushybrow couldn't take one of _those_ down."

"W-what? Naruto-kun, I could most _definitely_ defeat a sand worm!"

"Oh, yeah? I bet you couldn't!"

"Can to!"

"Can not!"

"Can to!"

"Gentlemen," Yashamaru interjected, "why don't we act _mature_ now? There _is_ a child present."

Gaara blinked up at him. "I don't mind." He smiled. "I don't have friends my own age."

Lee flinched and it appeared to take Naruto a moment to understand what had just been said. "OI! Are you saying that I'm a kid?"

"I am so sorry, Gaa-chan, you deserve to have role models, not squabbling brats…"

Naruto grumbled beneath his breath and Yashamaru and Gaara… they laughed. Here were these two men – teenagers, he had to remind himself – and they could act so… young. They could act like they had known Gaara and him for years and they were comfortable enough to pout and tease and make fun.

Gaara walked up to Lee and hugged his leg warmer. "Welcome back, Lee."

The jounin ruffled his hair affectionately. "I'm back, Gaa-chan."

.

Yashamaru felt his heart stop in his chest. "You want me to do… what?"

"I need to know if Gaara has control of his demon," Kaze reasoned with him calmly.

"And there's no other way to do that than _this_ way?" He laughed disgustedly. "You're not even human, are you?"

"He loves you more than his own life. If he can go through this and still not let loose the demon, then I can know for sure that he is what we've been hoping for."

"_We_? Who's _we_? It's always been you, you, _you_! You expect me to, to try and kill my own nephew…? Karura died to bring him into the world!"

"I expect you to try and fail. And when you fail, you are going to tell him that you never loved him and that his mother hated him."

A lonesome tear crawled down Yashamaru's face. "And how are you going to make me do this…?"

"If you don't… there are worse things in the world than being unloved. I can put Gaara through that."

'_Yes, there are worse things than being unloved. There's the chance of _never_ being loved. He could kill Gaara, if he utilized his weaknesses and brought in the right team. Gaara can believe that we hate him, but at least he can grow up to have someone love him. Even when I'm gone, he'll still have Lee and Naruto.' _The tears flowed freely. _'Oh, God, Gaara, I'm so sorry…'_

Kaze let him be for a moment. Then, "you will attempt to assassinate him tomorrow night after the village has been evacuated. After you lie to him, if you are not dead, I order you to commit suicide. Thank you for your service to this village, you will not be forgotten."

"… One day, you're going to realize how precious that boy is… and that day is going to come too late. Kaze, I have just one thing… I want to say."

"Go on."

He looked up at his brother-in-law with rage and disgust and pain and bloodlust in his usually soft eyes. "I hate you… with everything in my heart and soul."

"I know. Dismissed."

.

What luck did he have that Lee came over the very next day? And with Naruto no less. Not that he could tell them what he had to do that night.

Instead, he waited for when they were to leave, only an hour or so before the ordered evacuation (not that he could tell them about that either).

"Do you have to go _now_?" Gaara pouted and held on tight to Lee's leg warmer, like he could make him stay. Though that was a failing attempt, the wall of sand suddenly blocking off the Sungakure front gate might do the trick.

"Yes, we do. Your father has warned us that any later and he will forbid us from coming back – for a while," Lee quickly caught himself.

Yashamaru knew he had been about to say "ever again". Chances were Kaze was still going to refuse them entrance back into the village. After this night, Gaara would be changed forever. Kaze wouldn't want to take the chance of him softening up or, god forbid, _healing_ in any sort of way.

Naruto was growling to himself under his breath. "Yeah – just for a _little while_. Geez, Gaara, your dad's an ass-" he glared down at Lee's hand covering his mouth.

"Your father is an ass_et_ to this village, Gaa-chan," Lee finished with a smile. "Remember, be good and stay safe and be happy and – don't forget to write to me! I always enjoy your letters, they make my life so much brighter! YOSH, you make my day, no matter what, Gaa-chan…" He hugged the redhead close to his chest and Yashamaru had to look away.

When he looked back, Naruto was frowning at him. _'Please don't say anything, please don't say anything, please don't say anything, oh, God, please don't say anything…'_

Instead, Naruto knelt down to face Gaara. "Hey, don't forget to write to me too, man! Bro-fist." Gaara did so. Naruto grinned. "Great! Alright, so we're ou-"

"Wait," Yashamaru interrupted, then paused. "I think Gaara and I would like hugs, neh, Gaara?"

The redhead nodded excitedly, though he had just gotten his. Naruto swung him up in his arms and Yashamaru was enfolded in Lee's tight embrace. He worked quickly on Lee's survival pack, then pulled away with a smile and went to Naruto while Gaara switched hands.

Then they left.

"Let's go home, Gaara."

"Okay, uncle!"

He could only pray that they came charging back in time.

.

Lee rushed back. The wise words of Gai were at stake! Naruto came with him because, well, in all honesty, neither of them would mind spending more time with Gaara!

They stopped some miles from the front gate. Towering over the buildings of Sunagakure was…

"Shit," Naruto breathed in horror. "How the hell did he get out?"

Lee wasn't thinking along those lines, though. "Gaa-chan! GAA-CHAN!" Wise words of Gai be damned. He could make a new databook, listen to everything his sensei had to say a hundred times over, but Gaara was irreplaceable!

He ran as if the wind couldn't catch him and then he leapt… clear over the gate, over the buildings, racing straight for the demon that slowly turned to pin him with a golden glare. A wave of sand rose and cascaded down – but Lee wasn't there. He was over it, flipping, and Naruto was there to rasengan Shukaku in his bulbous torso.

And there, in Shukaku's forehead, was Gaara, tear stains on his cheeks, blood dripping from his temple, and aquamarine eyes scarred and pained and full of hatred. _'No, no, no! Gaa-chan, what has happened to you? What has happened to my Gaa-chan?' _

Lee sailed downwards, punched his way through a spike of sand, and landed on Shukaku's right eye. "Gaa-chan! Gaa-chan, it's me! Lee, remember me? Remember me, Gaa-chan?"

The redhead very, very slowly, almost jerkily, turned his upper body, his lower body sunk into Shukaku, to stare at him with none of the happiness he usually looked at Lee with.

**GAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!**

"Shit!" Naruto snarled from somewhere on the ground. "The raccoon's talking!"

**WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MERE _RACCOON_, BOY?**

"Shukaku-san, please let Gaa-chan go, he does not deserve this… this… whatever you are doing to him!"

**YOU THINK _I'M_ DOING THIS TO HIM? HE'S DOING THIS TO HIMSELF! GAH HAH HAH! I TOLD HIM HE WOULD BE HATED FOR WHAT HE TRULY WAS AND HE NEVER BELIEVED ME! NOT TILL NOW, ANYWAY.**

"What are you talking about, you giant rodent?"

**INSOLENT CHILD!**

"OI! Be careful with that tail of yours, I've got my own little backup and he'll be more than happy to help me kick your arrogant ass!"

Shukaku paused. Sniffed the air. Stared at Naruto. **IS THAT KURAMA? **_**YOU**_** ARE THE WIELDER OF **_**KURAMA**_**?**

"Hell yeah! And that's my friend you've got stuck in your forehead! You sure you wanna mess with _me_, you overstuffed skunk?"

"Naruto-kun, maybe you should stop insulting him so much…" Lee edged his way closer to the unresponsive boy. The sand was dragging at his heels, sucking him in, pulling him towards Shukaku's jaw where he would most surely drop and meet his death beneath the crushing weight of the desert. "Gaa-chan, can you hear me? Gaa-chan, please tell me what happened…"

**FOOL! HE CAN HEAR YOU, HE JUST CHOOSES NOT TO ANSWER! WHY SHOULD HE? YOU'LL ONLY HURT HIM LIKE HIS BELOVED UNCLE DID!**

Both jounin froze. "What are you talking about, coon?" Naruto barked.

**DON'T YOU KNOW? **Shukaku laughed mirthlessly. **SWEET, LOVING YASHAMARU TRIED TO KILL THE LITTLE MONSTER! AND HE GAVE US SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION, DIDN'T HE, GAARA?**

"Gaa-chan, what is he talking about? Gaa-chan…?" He managed to dislodge himself and jump the few feet between him and the redhead. Sand cut into him, raked across his flesh, abraded beneath his clothes and skinned him, but he refused to back down, wouldn't think of leaving Gaara where he was.

"You're lying! Yashamaru loves Gaara with everything in him! I would know how to tell the difference between someone who wanted to protect a jinchuuraki and someone who wanted them dead! I'VE LIVED THROUGH IT! GAARAAA! LISTEN TO ME, I don't know what was going on with you and your uncle, and I have no clue what he said to you, but he loves you! I know he does! Bushybrow knows he does! We can find him and we can talk this –"

**GAH HAH HAH HAH! YASHAMARU IS _DEAD_!**

The shock was palpable. The silence was deep. Tears fell from Lee's eyes as he stared at the little redhead. "Gaa-chan… I'm so… Oh, Gaa-chan… I'm sorry…"

Gaara stared at him as if crying a new concept for him, even with his own face still stained by salty treks of water.

**HE TRIED TO KILL US, DIDN'T HE, GAARA? WHEN HE DID, WE DEFENDED OURSELVES! WAS IT OUR FAULT THAT BENEATH THE MASK WAS DEAR YASHAMARU? WAS IT OUR FAULT THAT HE TRIED TO KILL US _AGAIN_ WITH BOMBS? THE BASTARD BLEW HIMSELF UP! IS THAT _OUR_ FAULT?**

Lee and Naruto stared down, bangs in their eyes, and their mirror stances of pain were picked at by flying grains.

Then Lee smiled. "Gaa-chan, it _isn't_ your fault. And Yashamaru-san… I don't know why he did that, but I know he loved you. Remember the first day we met? Remember when your uncle asked you to leave the room? He took the time to tell me that I could not be your fiend unless I planned to spend forever with you. Does that sound like something someone would say for the sake of someone they hated? Oh, Gaa-chan, your uncle _adored_ you."

"… Then why…" came Gaara's small voice, "would he say that he hated m-me? T-that when I was born… m-mom hated me? WHY WOULD HE LIE TO ME LIKE THAT… if he adored m-me?"

"I don't know, Gaa-chan, but I promise to find out. Please, Gaa-chan, _please_, come back to me? Naruto and I want to help you and we want to cry with you and we want to honor the man who led us here."

Gaara snapped around. "W-what?"

"Bushybrow's databook went missing!" Naruto explained. "Yashamaru must have taken it from his pack before we left and knew that we'd come back for it if Lee thought he lost it!"

"Yashamaru-san must have known that this was going to happen and he wanted us to be here for you when it did."

**LIES! DON'T LISTEN TO THEM, GAARA! HOLD ONTO THIS RAGE, THIS HATRED! YOU WON'T SURVIVE WITHOUT IT! WHY WOULD YOUR UNCLE DO THESE THINGS IF IT WASN'T FOR THE SAKE OF ENDING YOU? WHAT DID HE HAVE TO GAIN?**

Lee raised a fist. Brought it down. Shukaku's nose fell off. "Hush with you, Shukaku-san! I am talking to Gaa-chan, not you!"

"Yeah! Go, Bushybrow!"

**WHY YOU LITTLE – **

Lee brought his foot down and Shukaku face planted into a building, thankfully empty. As a matter of fact, the entire village seemed rather quiet for having a rampaging demon about… where was the screaming, panicking villagers? Or at least someone trying to take down Shukaku – except there was no one. Not a sound in the night… It was all rather strange and Lee felt an inkling of an idea form in the back of his mind. Could someone be that cruel?

He looked at Gaara who was looking at him, something cracking in his newly formed expressionless face.

The answer was, quite simply, _yes_.

"Please, Gaa-chan, we can figure this out together – you, Naruto-kun, and me. We don't want you to hurt, you're our friend!"

"B-but…"

"Yes, Gaa-chan?"

The redhead cried. He cried hard and he pushed against Shukaku until he popped out of head and he ran like he was going to be attacked by his own sand. "LEE!"

He tackled Lee and Lee, despite his two shows of strength, fell with the momentum because he really was in tatters. What parts of him that were still covered in skin were stinging with the whip of Shukaku's power and what parts weren't were completely numb right up until Gaara ran into him and awoke a whole new world of torture for the young jounin.

But he bit back his scream. He wrapped his arms around Gaara and closed his eyes tightly as they teetered over and Shukaku at that moment chose to stand to his full intimidating height to roar in fury at them.

They fell… and fell… and fell… right until they fell into the embrace of three or so Naruto copies and Shukaku, no longer supported by his host, disintegrated back into the desert. It was almost anti-climactic how the demon merely shuddered and then fell and spread. It didn't happen in slow motion and there weren't any promising last words. The affair itself was pretty quiet as Naruto picked up both Lee and Gaara and dashed out of immediate reach of the sandy avalanche.

"Oi, Bushybrow, we need to get you help, man, you look bad!"

Gaara winced. "Lee… You shouldn't have… you got hurt… I'm sorry…"

"No, it's okay, Gaa-chan. YOSH, this is a small price to pay for having you back!"

Naruto patted him on the head. "Don't do that to us again, you got that? Geez, I thought Bushybrow was gonna go ballistic on the coon there for a moment. Did you see him? He totally owned Shumaka!"

"Naruto-kun… it's _Shukaku_."

"Whatever."

He weakly got to his feet, trembled for a long moment, and then collapsed. "Ah hah hah… sorry, it seems I really can't move at the moment…"

"It's okay. Gaara and I can get you back to our village."

Gaara's head snapped around. "What do you mean?"

"This village is evacuated, Gaara, and Yashamaru knew before we even left that he was going to try and assassinate you. But we know that he loved you with everything in him. That means that he was ordered to lie to you," Naruto deduced, surprising Lee.

To think that this was the same man who four years ago couldn't tell the difference between his sensei and a scarecrow. As a matter of fact, this was _still_ the person who couldn't tell the difference between his sensei and a scarecrow.

"The only person who has the power to have forced Yashamaru to do something like that would be your dad."

Gaara flinched and looked at his hands, worrying the scraps of fabric covering Lee's chest. "Uncle told me that father ordered him to kill me… but then father gave him the choice to back out and he denied it so that he could kill me for taking away his sister."

"Aside from that first part, I'm sure the rest is a lie," Lee breathed, and brought Gaara into a one-arm hug. "I've said it before and I will say it again. You are a nice, gentle boy, and if no one has it in them to recognize your worth, then they have no right to be with you."

The child cried… and cried… and cried. He cried as if the floodgates had busted open and there was no stopping it, like tears was all he was made of. Lee held him through it all, not letting go for anything, including the pain of having Gaara's salty sorrow bathe his wounds.

Naruto stood to his feet, face turned away. Lee could still see the barely-contained rage that made his shoulders tense and his hands fist at his sides. "Hey, Bushybrow, stay here with him, will ya? There's something I've got to do."

"… YOSH, Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun? Be safe and please come back. Gaa-chan and I would be very sad if you didn't." He gave his friend a hard look. _'I know what you're going to do'_, he thought at the blonde and met blue, blue eyes that could practically read his mind and communicate back. _'And I approve.'_

He smiled. "Don't worry about me! I always come back, there's no getting rid of me! Just wait here for me, will ya?" And then he was gone.

.

Kaze was watching the destruction of his village from afar. Gaara had been a failure. Except he was too far away to see why exactly Shukaku began acting strangely. First he went still, then began to fall apart, and, at one time, it appeared as if gravity had plummeted him to earth. Then he had risen only to dissolve into wave after wave of sand.

From his perch, it was all very confusing. The question left on his mind was, is this a good thing or a bad thing? On one hand, Gaara seemed to have gotten control over Shukaku at the minute after the last minute. On the other hand, Gaara regained control.

Possibly.

And then he wasn't thinking because his mind appeared to be left where he had been standing while his body flew through the air and landed on the edge of the cliff he had been watching from. Dazedly, he realized that he hadn't gotten there by his own devices.

A furious jinchuuraki stood some yards from him, hand still clenched in a fist, and eyes bleeding scarlet. "What the _fuck_ is your problem?"

"Ah, Naruto… I should have realized that this had something to do with you. I suppose Lee is with Gaara somewhere?"

"No, you don't _get_ to ask the question! You have to answer mine, you twisted freak!"

"And your question is…?"

"… Bastard."

"I can't wait around here all day for you to decide whether my parenting methods merit my death."

"You're _parenting methods_? So, wait, this was you at least _trying_ to be a parent? Blowing up your wife's brother and trying to kill your son was a _parenting method_?"

"There are some things greater in the world than what you think are the greatest. What I've done, I've done for my village."

Naruto stared down at him for a very long time. Kaze hadn't felt so small and exposed since his way younger years. Then he closed his eyes. "You're not worth the effort of killing. You're just a sad old man who's never going to realize what you could have had with your son."

"_Could_ have had? What are you talking about?"

"We're taking Gaara with us! You can keep Temari and Kankuro, you seem to be giving them better treatment, anyway. But Gaara deserves to have happiness in what little he has left of his childhood and he's not going to find that here with you!"

"… Is that what you plan to do? How do you expect him to get strong that way, by coddling him, exactly? Look at you, Naruto. Look at Lee. You can even look at Sasuke or that Hyuuga boy – when tragedy struck you young, you all grew up to be the _best_. You had to fight to get where you are and now you want to make things easy for Gaara? That's robbing him of what he could be."

"… No. That's giving him what we all should have had. We fought for a better future because our pasts were so bad – we've always wanted to just be happy and content! Gaara… we can save him the pain of going through all the bullshit we had to and just cut to the chase. He can be happy now and he can be happy when he grows up. We'll be there for him to make him stronger every day and he won't have our weaknesses either. So keep your stupid excuses to yourself, old man! They won't work on me."

"You honestly think you can get away with kidnapping the child of a kage?"

"We're not kidnapping him. He's coming with us willingly, and, one day, we're going to bring him back here so he can spread the joy with _his_ people, after you die, you bastard."

"He will _never_ become kazekage!" The audacity of it!

"Oh, yeah? We'll just see about _that_, you asshole. Gaara's coming with us! And if you try to stop us…" his eyes, darker than blood, were cold and merciless and Kaze's breath stuck in his lungs. "You'll regret it."

.

Lady Tsunade wasn't pleased with them. But, in the end, she knew there was nothing she could do about it. No, seriously, there was _nothing_ she could do about it. She couldn't even hit them over the heads or throw things at them.

Gaara refused to leave them alone. He also refused to let anyone else touch them and the gourd of sand he was carrying was too difficult a defense to put the effort into getting by. She could wait. She could be patient. Because she _was_ going to make them suffer. She just couldn't do it as of yet.

"Who's he staying with?" she finally asked, temples throbbing and the urge to kill still strong. "And why aren't you in the hospital, more importantly?"

"We came here to discuss this first thing! Then Naruto-kun was going to take me to see Sakura-kun to look over my wounds…"

"Wound_s_? You're one huge scab, Lee! Damn it, you're bleeding all over my floor."

Gaara gasped and looked down. Lee glared at Lady Tsunade. "Thank you, hokage-sama."

"No problem. So? Who's he staying with? Don't tell me! You've decided on joint custody."

Naruto frowned. "No. He's gonna stay with Bushybrow, seeing as how I'm hardly home anymore. But when Bushybrow's on a mission or something, he'll be with me. If we're both out, Bushierbrow said he'd watch him for us."

"Gai knew about this before I did?"

"YOSH! We passed by him at the gates." Lee giggled. "He stalled us quite a bit, he couldn't believe how wonderful Gaa-chan is."

"… Gaa-chan… Right. So, seeing as how my hands are tied on this and _no one_ actually cares for what I think, I hereby pronounce you two temporary parents! Go make your baby proud."

"Alright! You hear that, Gaara?" Naruto knelt down and redirected the redhead's attention to him. "Let's give you a happy life, kay?"

The child gently touched the scar on his temple. _Ai_. He gulped. "F-full of love?"

"YOSH! We will _overwhelm_ you with our love, Gaa-chan!"

The boy smiled. "I'd like that."

.

_Author's Note: I don't exactly know how to explain the timeline here… I guess you could say that Sunagakure was put in a timeless bubble for about a decade while everything that happened in the manga occurred. I don't know… Anywho, Kurama is apparently Kyuubi's real name! I read the latest manga chapter as I was writing this and I was all, "what are the chances?" I love you all! Have a Happy New Years!_


	2. This is the life

_Author's Note: To Rhainus, who wanted this. I know I said I wouldn't do it, but then I ended up thinking differently. _

_._

"When the old hag gave us custody of Gaara, I didn't think she meant like _this_." Naruto shifted around, grimaced, and kicked Lee's leg out of his space. "Geez, bed hogger."

Ignoring that last comment, Lee responded, "I know what you mean. It is just… Forgive me if this hurts your feelings, but… when I imagined marriage, you were never the bride."

"HEY! I'm nobody's bride, dattebayo!" He cocooned himself in the covers.

"Naruto-kun! Stop stealing the blankets!"

"Not till you admit that _you're_ the bride!"

"Fine, fine, I'm the bride. Now, please?"

"… Huh. That was easy." Too easy. Naruto eyeballed the back of Lee's head as he returned some of the covers. "You wouldn't happen to want to be…?"

"Hhmm? W-well, I imagine it's not _terrible_. It is the same thing as being a husband, but only… being the bride."

"I guess you have a point. Heh, how often is the bride expected to do all the hard work, huh?"

"Naruto-kun, that was very inappropriate of you." Lee cracked a grin nonetheless.

A moment passed in silence.

"So… Do we have sex?"

"_What_?" Lee whipped around to gawk at Naruto.

The blonde flushed darkly. "I'm just asking! Geez, the old hag said we have to be like this for two years before we can get an alimony – "

"_Annulment_."

"Yeah, that thing – we might as well enjoy ourselves!"

"… Naruto-kun, do you even know what sex _is_?"

"Yeah!"

"Then why are you asking _me_ for it?"

"… Dunno. It's just, that's what married people do… right?"

"I think of us more as best friends, raising a child, who hokage-sama is playing a bad joke on."

"I guess you're right…" The silence was awkward for another small moment. Then Naruto whistled distractedly, looked around the room, and coughed _not suspiciously_. "Can we cuddle?"

"I do not mind cuddling."

When Gaara came in later that night (as he never slept), Naruto was spooning Lee and they were snoring in synchronization. Gaara picked at his shirt. "Lee? Naruto?"

Lee grumbled something that could vaguely be an acknowledgment.

"Can I stay in here?"

Lee nodded, whether he was aware of it or not, and the small redhead smiled as he scurried into bed. Naruto's arms were already full, so he squeezed into Lee's and the jounin held him snugly to his warm, beating chest.

Gaara wasn't allowed to sleep. But if he were, this would have been his lullaby.

.

Gaara was… pouting. A pouting Gaara was an insanely cute Gaara, no doubt, but Lee was still confused and a little hurt to boot. Gaara wouldn't talk to him. Gaara had _always_ talked to him, for the two weeks he had been in Konoha, he and Naruto had been the only two people he _would_ talk to.

But now… now a wall of sand came up every time Lee came within ten feet of him. His heart gave a painful squeeze in his chest. What had he done to upset his adorable little Gaa-chan? He wanted to know so _badly_!

He didn't want to hurt Gaara, though, or make him feel cornered. So he couldn't just bash through the sand and beat some common sense into him like Naruto or Gai would.

"Hey, uh, is he getting any better?" Speak of the devil.

Lee turned to Naruto with tears dripping down his face, covered in snot, and sniffling. "NO!"

"GAH – I mean, well, let me talk to him!"

"He won't let me near him," Lee sobbed and then rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes. "But you can try and… and…" Naruto was already walking off. Lee's heart broke as he entered the ten-foot diameter Gaara had created around himself. "Why is it only _me_?"

.

Naruto was a little cautious getting close to Gaara. If he didn't want Lee around, the same guy he had adored since day one, then chances were that something bad was going down. Maybe Naruto as a fellow jinchuuraki could understand?

"I hate Sakura," was the first thing Gaara said when Naruto sat down beside him.

Okay, maybe being a jinchuuraki had nothing to do with this. "Huh? Why would you hate her? She's my teammate!"

"You like her," Gaara snarled in turn. And, well, Naruto couldn't deny that. It was hard to get over first loves and Sakura was his. "Lee likes her too."

"Yeah… That's caused us a few problems over the past few years, let me tell you."

The sand boiled unpleasantly.

"S-so if this has to do with both of us, how come Bushybrow's the only one you're not letting close?"

The world went still. Naruto was almost afraid of what that meant.

Then Gaara wiped his eyes. _Shit_! He was _crying_? Just like Lee. Geez… "Lee was mine first."

"Oh… _Oh_… _Oh_!" Right. Gaara had only had his uncle and then there had been Lee. So this was Gaara being _jealous_. Naruto cleared his throat. This was a little out of his league. "Umm… Well, Bushybrow likes you just as much as he likes Sakura."

"Liar."

"No, he really does!" Now Naruto just had to avoid the question of "in what way?" As long as he could do that, he was…

"Does he like us in the same way?" Gaara looked innocently up at him, practically _begging_ for him to say that there was no one more important in Lee's life than him.

Gai was due to return from his long-term mission in three days. Naruto could see now how that was going to blow over. He gulped. "W-well, uh, you see, Gaara, there are, umm, different kinds of people who will come through your life, and, er… You and Sakura are two different kinds of people."

Gaara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that, like, your Bushybrow's son, right? Then there's Sakura who's like his love interest." And his too. But he better not bring that up at the moment.

"I don't _want_ to be his son! _My_ father tried to kill me! Why does Sakura get to be his love interest? Why is she so SPECIAL?" He grabbed at his skull. The sand was frantic now.

This whole situation was going straight to hell. He had to think fast before Lee decided to break through! "Because you're not old enough!"

There was a small moment of peace, like the eye of a hurricane, and Gaara glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "What?"

"Y-yeah… Bushybrow's eighteen and you're, what? Six? Seven? You can't be his love interest when you're so young, that's called pedophilia and he doesn't go that way."

"What's pedophilia?"

"It's where… You know what? Just know that Bushybrow's not into it and that people who do that are really sick. But, yeah! I've got the perfect solution, you ready to hear this?"

Gaara nodded, attention successfully caught. Naruto leaned conspiringly close to his ear. "You've got to grow up and take him down by force!" He offered a wolfish grin as he pulled away. Gaara was frowning.

"I can take him down by force now."

"_Not what I meant_. Listen, when you're old enough to understand what it means, you'll most likely be old enough to do it. Okay? Now don't hate Sakura so much, she's a pretty awesome person and me and Bushybrow wouldn't even be here if not for her. Don't be jealous of her."

The child stared at his hands for awhile.

"C'mon, Bushybrow's really worried about you and, hey! You've got to apologize to him too, you really hurt his feelings when you didn't let him get close to you!"

He nodded, sulking, and Naruto really couldn't stand the look of depression on his face. He grinned and patted his head. "Don't be so down, Gaara. Bushybrow likes happy people." Naruto winked.

Gaara's face lit up like Christmas.

.

It was worse than what Naruto had thought it would be.

Gai came back, Lee met up with him, and Gaara was there to witness the manly affection the two shared for each other. Naruto was there to personally see the last shred of patience and acceptance in Gaara be shattered into millions of pieces as wave after wave of sand rose up and went after the sensei.

Not that Gai immediately realized he was in danger. Naruto had to admit, the guy was a freak and he looked too happy to be chased around by dirt. He kept screaming something about this being the most perfect attack simulation.

Lee came to stand next to them, face turned down, and the attack stopped as soon as it had started as Gaara paled. "Lee?"

"Gaa-chan… why are you trying to kill my sensei?"

The boy flinched. Naruto grimaced but this was something Gaara would have to go through. Yeah, he had had a bad past, but that didn't give him the right to try and isolate Lee.

"I want… I don't want…" He clenched his fists. "I don't want anyone but me touching you! You're mine, aren't you?"

This was bad. This was so bad. Naruto watched Lee, trying to see how he would react before he would actually react. In the end, this was only going to break Gaara's heart.

Lee crouched down and took Gaara's hands in his. "Gaa-chan, first and foremost, I am a shinobi that specializes in taijutsu. I _have_ to have body contact. As for belonging to you exclusively… that can not be. I belong to this village, to the people who need me, to my friends, to the people who raised me… but a part of me does belong to you because you are dear to me. Please, can you be happy with that? All I want in life is for you to be happy."

Gaara looked over Lee's shoulder at Naruto, as if he was supposed to have the answer. At a loss of anything else to say, he mouthed, 'Remember, take him down when you're bigger'.

Gaara turned back to Lee. "I… I'll try… I'm sorry…"

"It's alright… this time, anyway. Gai-sensei didn't realize your true intentions."

As a matter of fact, he was on a distant rooftop, just barely in side, and Naruto could catch the echoes of "BRING IT ON!"

"Well, seems like we're done here," Naruto chirped. "Let's go home, huh?"

Gaara smiled. "Yes."

"YOSH!"

"BRING IT ON!"

.

Gaara ate like it was his only way to survive in the cruel, cutthroat world that he presided in. Lee couldn't figure it out for the life of him but he encouraged it (in moderations at appropriate times with the correct exercise schedule).

Naruto considered it their little secret as to why Gaara was suddenly telling people that his goal in life was to become big and strong. Lee was just happy that Gaara was so into learning taijutsu – despite the overwhelming truth that he most likely wouldn't need it.

But no matter how hard he worked at it, Gaara was short stuff.

"Well, you were born premature," Lady Tsunade grouched at them when they approached. "It's natural that you would have growth problems."

"Can you help me?" Gaara pleaded, flashing those aquamarine eyes at her, and Naruto almost cried for the guy.

Pouting never worked with Lady Tsunade. Naruto shuddered.

"In all honesty, I thought Lee's diet would have made you gain a few inches in the first _day_."

"It made Shu angry."

"And you're still on it, aren't you? Don't answer that, of course you are. After all, _Lee's_ on it, huh?" Gaara nodded. Lady Tsunade huffed. "I can see what I can do for you, kid. But you'll owe me a favor later in life, you got that?"

Gaara puffed out his chest, looking so hopeful, and gave a dutiful bow. "Understood, Lady Tsunade!"

"Great! Now we're going to put you on this table and stretch you out, alright?"

Naruto gasped and grabbed Gaara, squeezing him to his chest. "You old hag, that won't work!"

"I know. I just wanted to see you overreact."

"It's not overreacting!"

"Of _course_ not. Now come with me. Shizune! Take over for me!"

"Gotcha, boss!"

"Oink!"

.

Naruto was pretty sure he had been born in this cave. He flinched at the image of Gaara spread out on the stone table and Lady Tsunade leaning over him. His own position reminded him of the one his dad had had to take all those years ago, hands over Gaara, making sure his seal didn't break as the boy howled and screamed like Shukaku was ripping at his insides.

Tsunade turned to Naruto, nonchalant as smoke. "Growing pains."

.

"I'm scared that they'll pick on Gaa-chan," Lee confided in Naruto the day they saw Gaara off to the academy. "I want him to have friends and laugh everyday, but I don't… I…" Lee gave him a furtive look and then stared at the ground.

Everyone knew what Naruto's days at the academy had been like. He had had Iruka, his rivalry against Sasuke, and that was it. Now Gaara was going there, same as Naruto, and he could understand why Lee was hesitant. Hell, he was hesitant!

But so far the people of Konohakagure didn't care. They'd lived through one jinchuuraki that had grown up to be a hero, they were willing to give a second one the chance. Now they weren't welcoming Gaara with open arms, but they weren't using those arms to hurl things at him either or insulting him. They kept their watchful quiet and Gaara went about not bothering them.

He did, after all, have Lee and Naruto. As a matter of fact, he had all of Konoha Ten on his side. Plus Sai. He didn't need them.

But now Naruto was aware of the fact that Gaara didn't have any friends his own age. So there he went… through the gates, gourd on back, and he didn't look back once like the brave little boy Naruto and Lee had told him to be. And he went alone.

"I hope he ends up in Iruka-sensei's class," Naruto muttered.

"He will. I was able to arrange that much with the academy."

"Heh, nice thinking, Bushybrow!"

They stood there in a frightened, heavy silence.

"You want to go scope out the playground?"

"That sounds like a marvelous idea, Naruto-kun!"

.

They had an issue with Gaara that they couldn't overcome because they never really faced it to begin with. Hell, Naruto wasn't even sure _how_ they were supposed to face it. He and Lee would go to sleep and when they would wake up, Gaara was there…

Clean.

"Hey, uh, Gaara, you mind if I ask you something?" Naruto one day approached with.

The boy looked up at him. "I've got to go to school."

"Yeah, but I just want to ask you something really quick."

"Okay."

"How do you… you know… take a bath?"

The redhead frowned at him, hairless eyebrows drawn together in confusion. "What?"

"It's just, sand doesn't stick well in water and you're always carrying so much of it… And then you were raised in Suna and they don't really have a lot of water, so… how do you do it?"

"I just… do it. I take a bath when you're both sleeping."

"Huh." He rubbed the back of his head. "It's just, we never hear you or see you go near the bathroom… for _anything_… and that raises _another_ question –"

"My sand is _not_ a litter box."

"Great! Great, 'cause that would be really, really bad – I mean, your foes would be… y'know what? That would just be gross." He fiddled with his thumbs. "Where _do_ you take your business?"

"I've got to go. Iruka-sensei doesn't want me always being late like you were."

"What? H-hey! Get back here, don't you jutsu away!" The swirl of sand ignored him and disappeared.

He sat back and grumbled.

"Naruto-kun… I think maybe you were a bit too direct." Lee crouched down in front of him, arms folded over his knees.

"I think I wasn't direct enough!"

"There was no way to be more direct, I'm sorry."

He huffed. Lee laughed into his hand. "Hey, Bushybrow…"

"Yes?"

"Are we good parents?"

"I…" Lee frowned. "I don't know. I'll ask Gaa-chan when he gets home, we are acting as _his_ parents, after all…"

"Yeah, I guess so."

.

Gaara tripped. Naruto hadn't thought that that was possible, seeing as how there was a gourd of sand attached to his back that seemed to be against him being harmed in whatever way. It happened anyway.

It wasn't serious, he just went from vertical to horizontal in that classy way people do when they trip over roots in the forest. It wasn't like it penetrated his sand armor.

Lee had a freak attack anyway. "Gaa-chan! Oh, Gaa-chan, are you okay?" He did a thorough onceover, checking all points of collision and when he saw the _smallest_ scratch in Gaara's armor on his knee… wow. Naruto twitched. This was bad. "WE NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!"

"Whoa, Bushybrow, you've been through worse by his age, what are you losing your head over?"

Lee turned towards him, expression dark, and it was all Naruto could do not to piss himself. "Gaa-chan is not _me_."

Gaara tapped on Lee's shoulder. "I wouldn't mind."

"W-what?"

"I want to be raised like you were. Because you grew up to be a really good person, so…" Gaara fiddled with his shirt. "This is nothing! It didn't even penetrate my armor. But you never had armor, so…" The sand melted away.

Beneath it was a boy and he was…

"Wow. You're really pink, aren't you?" Naruto scratched his cheek.

"Gaa-chan!" Lee sobbed. "YOSH, I will help you become a good person in life and help you overcome your pinkness or else I shall do – … I shall do…"

Naruto frowned. What could Lee do if Gaara didn't grow up to be a good person? Neither of them really wanted to think about it.

Then Lee's grip on Gaara's shoulders tightened. "I shall _make_ you a good person and I will _beat_ the pink out of you!"

Gaara flinched. "O-okay…"

Naruto was a little scared himself. "Geez, he's just a kid, Bushybrow."

Lee squeezed the redhead to his chest. "I know! He is my adorable Gaa-chan and I hope I do not have to fulfill my punishment, but if I must! I must. Please do me proud, Gaa-chan!" He brushed a hand across the scar on Gaara's forehead. "I love you."

Gaara stopped breathing. Tears started slipping down his face. Naruto had to look away because this was as heartbreaking as life could get.

But then he thought about it realistically and, really, from Lee's point of view, this was nothing different than from what he did with his sensei. So the only person it was heartbreaking for was Gaara. And Naruto, because he understood what it was like.

When he had been a kid about Gaara's age, someone to say "I love you" was about the only thing he had wanted too.

.

Hinata had been acting weird since he and Lee were "married" about a year and a half ago. She hadn't gotten over it and only Lee of them seemed to understand why that was.

Naruto had more than once turned a corner to see Lee trying to explain to Hinata about something being "out of love for the child, not ours" and things like that. He had no clue what it meant, but then Hinata would notice him and run off in the other direction.

And then even Gaara knew what was going on. He looked up as Hinata hurried past them in the market. Naruto blinked. "Hey, Hinata-aa…?" She was gone. He stared where she had just been. "What did I _do_?"

"You didn't do anything," Gaara chirped. "I think that's the problem."

"Huh?"

Gaara looked around like he was about to do something he knew he shouldn't and then he tugged Naruto down to eye-level. He cupped a hand around his ear and whispered, "she likes you."

"Well, I like her too! We're friends, after all."

Gaara shook his head. "She likes you like you liked Sakura."

"_What_?" What was with this "_liked_"? But, then again… Naruto hadn't been acting so much on his first love lately, had he? That had dimmed down since he had taken Gaara in. He frowned at the floor. And then he was shot back to the present. "Wait, she likes me like _that_?"

"I'm seven years old. Why are you asking _me_?"

"You're the one who pointed it out!"

"I'm hungry. What do you think Lee wants for dinner?"

"You cheeky little b-"

.

"I want Lee to like-like me," Gaara said randomly one day.

Naruto spewed ramen on the kitchen table. Wait, he had already known this… but it was strange hearing a seven-year old say it so monotonously. "R-right…"

"But I want him to be my mom too."

"_What_?"

Gaara fidgeted and his voice softened by a few octaves. "I've never had a mom… Uncle Yashamaru told me that she hated me when I was born, but then he'd also said that he hated me too and that wasn't true… so I don't know what my mom thought of me. I look at Lee and I think he might be what a mom's like."

Naruto thought about it. In a roundabout way, it was pretty true. Except the moms Naruto had met were _way_ scarier than Lee. He finished his ramen in a deep, calculating silence. "So a mom, huh?"

"Yes. Should I tell him?"

"Eh. If you want to." He could imagine Lee bursting into tears, overjoyed and all of that. It surprised him to feel that that would pretty much be in character for the jounin.

"I don't think I'm supposed to like-like my mom."

"That's a bit creepy, yeah."

.

Gaara met his worst enemy in existence.

His name was Hyuuga Neji and he was Lee's greatest rival and one of his closest friends. As Gaara had told Naruto, Lee most likely liked Neji.

That was apparently unacceptable.

But Naruto still had to stop Gaara from trying a non-violent, almost playful approach to making Neji's life miserable. Because Gaara had realized that with great hair came great responsibility and a shitload of sand made an equally great mess. Naruto was two seconds in time to stop Neji from having to learn just how much of a mess that was.

Sadly, he ended up having to deal with it himself.

He was home that night, Lee helping him from getting grains out of places they _never_ should have gone. He could feel them digging into his scalp, scratching his skin, under his fingernails, _in his fucking mouth_, and, damn it, he had sand burns!

He grumbled as Lee scrubbed his hair. "It just isn't coming out!"

Gaara stood guiltily in the bathroom doorway. "I can take it out…"

"Really?" Naruto whipped towards him, happy that he could finally get this over with.

"When you dry up."

"What the hell!" Naruto tossed his hands up and then splashed back into the bath. Gaara winced. He was always trying to conserve water. "Come on, Bushybrow, let's get this over with!'

"Naruto-kun, please stop moving so much, you're getting water on the floor."

"Don't you care about _me_, Bushybrow? What about _me_ instead of the floor?"

"Well…" Lee sighed. "Alright." He kissed Naruto's cheek. "Do you feel better now?"

"… Uhh… Yeah, actually. Wait a second! You're not my mom too!"

"… Too?" Lee looked to Gaara for confirmation.

Gaara flushed just a little bit. "I was talking to him and I said that you were like a mom."

"Really?" Lee lit up like a pregnant woman. "Gaa-chan! If I could be your second mother, I would be overwhelmed by the spirit of your youth and love! In a good way, I mean!"

"Hey, what about me?" Naruto scratched at his armpit. Sand came loose. "I'm a walking sandman! Uh, no offense to you, Gaara."

The redhead ignored him for once. "So it's okay?"

"YOSH! Though I would refrain from calling me mom in respect to yours."

"… Okay."

They hugged, their first official hug as mother and son. Naruto watched on as the impression of a rainbow and unicorns came into the background. "Neji better be grateful, that asshole."

On the contrary, somewhere across the village, Neji had no clue what had nearly happened. He did sneeze, however, and look accusingly in the family's direction. "Who keeps talking about me?"

.

It was the last night of their marriage. To be honest, Naruto had enjoyed the married life, knowing that there were people at home to come back to and that he didn't have to sleep alone. And it was practically _guaranteed_ because it was marriage! But, eh, he and Lee had already talked about it and they'd made the decision to just go on like normal. Or what had become normal over the past two years.

They weren't really _planning_ to do anything about it, though. The night was going to pass, they'd get the annulment in the morning, and then life would go on. Nothing special about it.

Except Lee slipped on miso sauce as Gaara came in from his day at the academy.

What he saw wasn't really that innocent but it wasn't Naruto fault either, damn it! Why did this always happen to him? _Why_ always him? Him!

And how was it possible for someone who was as awesome as using their body as a weapon as Lee to be so freaking clumsy?

Naruto pushed the frozen Lee off of him as Gaara's expression turned dark and dangerous. "H-hey, this isn't what it looks like!"

Sand swirled dangerously. Lee was slowly coming back to himself, hand over his mouth. "M-m-my first kiss!"

That did nothing for the situation.

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the attack. It didn't come.

"G-Gaa-chan?" He could hear Lee getting to his feet. "Gaa-chan, why are you crying?"

Aw, fuck. He'd rather Gaara would attack him.

"Lee, Gaara and I need to talk for a moment."

The jounin flinched and looked back at him with eyes wider than usual. "What did you just call me?"

"_Lee_." He gave him his most serious, desperate face. "We really need to talk about something that _moms_ can't know about, okay?"

"Oh… Okay…" Lee looked down at Gaara who wouldn't meet his gaze; his head was tipped down and tears fell off his jaw. "If Naruto-kun doesn't help you, I will, okay? So, please, Gaa-chan, don't cry. I always want to cry with you when you do!"

"Lee!"

The taijutsu artist nodded and left through the open door, shutting it behind him. Naruto waited till his chakra signature faded away.

Gaara didn't look up. The apartment was practically a beach but at least the sand wasn't trying to strangle him… yet. "Gaara, I swear that wasn't what it looked like. There was miso sauce on the ground, Bushybrow slipped and fell… on me. It's happened before – not with Bushybrow! – it just always happens to me, I didn't mean for it to happen, and it's all cool, right? I'm not making a move on him, promise."

Gaara's fists clenched at his sides. "I told you… that Lee's mine – and you do _this_?"

"Not on purpose!" He scratched the back of his neck. He shouldn't be having this conversation with an eight-year old! "It was an accident. Look, there are still smears of sauce on the ground!"

Gaara followed his accusing finger. "_Why_ is there sauce on the ground?"

Naruto's finger drooped. That was a really good question. Unlike Naruto who could be a slob when left to himself, Lee was a neat freak. In the past two years, he had practically beat his neatness into both jinchuuraki. So who the hell would leave sauce on the ground for Lee to slip on?

"I have no clue. But you _see_ it, don't you?"

Gaara contemplated it in silence for awhile. Then he lifted his head to glare at Naruto with golden eyes stained red. "It doesn't matter. You still took Lee's first kiss. That was supposed to be _mine_."

This kid was weird. Really weird. Naruto gulped as the sand suddenly rose. "I-it was an accident! Gyaah! BUSHYBROW! SAVE MEEEE!"

.

Despite everything, Gaara eventually forgave him. Seeing as how Lee got that sad puppy dog face whenever he saw them fighting (or Naruto defending himself against the red fury), Gaara really had no other choice.

But that didn't stop the incidences from happening.

This time, however, it was dashi soup. And they weren't even in the _kitchen_, for crying out loud! Who left dashi soup in the bedroom? And at the foot of the bed, no less! That wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was that Lee wasn't the one who slipped.

When Gaara came in (what the _hell_ was with his timing?), Lee was blinking owlishly up at Naruto, who was a little horrified himself that his towel had just fallen off and that he was on top of Lee and – _holy shit_, this really looked bad!

"GYAAAH! Don't kill me!"

"Naruto-kun, if you would _please_ get off of me…"

Gaara was practically shaking in his skin. Sand was mounting up all around him, a wall of death that wanted Naruto's mangled corpse, and the blonde was reasonably scared.

And then Lee smiled. "Hello, Gaa-chan! How was school today?"

.

It was ice the next time… in July. And it wasn't either of them that slipped on it either. It was the random dude passing by as they were facing each other, talking, Gaara with them (because he had _zero_ trust in Naruto), and then _that_ bastard slipped!

The next thing Naruto knew, he was shoved right into Lee, sand rushing in his ears, and he thought to himself, _'WHAT THE HELL? AGAIN?'_ Despite what must have been Gaara's attempt to stop what was undoubtedly happening, they still ended up crashing against the nearest wall, kissing for the third time in two weeks.

Lee sagged in defeat. "Why does this keep happening to us?"

"I don't know!" Naruto sobbed. Gaara's face of pure, murderous jealousy made his skin prickle. "Make it _stop_, man, make it _stop_!"

"NEVER!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Gaara's sand struck out.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee ran to where his role model had fallen, desert soil spilling out of his mouth. "Are you alright?"

He made some sounds that could have been an affirmative.

Naruto was leaning a little towards asking Gaara to do it again. "What do you mean, _never_ make it stop?"

Naruto wasn't sure where the sand went. Maybe he swallowed it or Naruto didn't see him spit it out, but either way Gai was back on his feet and grinning like a lunatic. "LEE! NARUTO! It was my goal in life to save your marriage so that Gaara could be raised in a family environment! If I fail, I must," he paused dramatically, "_die_."

"No, Gai-sensei!"

"Of humiliation!"

Naruto and Lee took a step back. Gaara took one forward. "Huh?" Naruto squawked in horror.

"If I fail to bring you two back together with the POWER OF TRUE LOVE'S KISS, I shall crawl on my hands and knees through the streets of Konoha in nothing but a thong! That is the challenge I have set up for myself!" He posed radically.

Naruto's mind wandered to what that would look like… and the contents of his stomach immediately tried to choke him. He twisted around so they wouldn't see his face turn green. "B-Bushybrow…"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"We have to get remarried."

There was a moment of silence. Then Gaara inputted, "I could just kill him and save us all."

"Gaa-chan!"

"But, _Lee_!"

"Bushybrow!"

"For the sake of my dignity, will you two get back together and rain love and passion down upon this village?" Gai was practically crying.

"No," Gaara answered for them with the sincerity and straightforwardness of one who _would_ kill to make his words the truth.

"Gaa-chan!"

"_Lee_! I don't want you marrying Naruto!"

"You… You don't? Why not?"

Oh, boy. Naruto knew exactly what was about to happen…

"Because _I_ want to marry you!"

The silence was thick. But there _wasn't_ a silence. No one stopped to stare at the "demon boy" propositioning Lee, no one paused at that there was a little kid declaring his intentions to a male jounin. Hell, one mom giggled as she walked by with her child in hand. Or at least Naruto thought that was her kid. She seemed to know what was going on better than they did anyway.

Or at least Lee, who was frozen in time. Gai had about the same gawking expression as his student.

Naruto clapped his hands. "So who wants to go to Ichiraku's!"

.

"So… you want to… marry _me_?" Lee had his arms wound tightly around his legs, crouched low so he was eye to eye with the sitting redhead. "Why not Naruto-kun?"

"It has to be you," Gaara growled. "You were mine first… now we're back here and everyone wants a piece of you."

"Gaa-chan, I told you –"

"I know what you told me!" He paused, realizing he was yelling at Lee. Gaara abated. "But Naruto said that if I became big and strong, I could have you."

"W-what? _Naruto-kun_ said that?"

"Yes."

"W-well… this explains… a few things. Like your sudden growth. This _is_ why you suddenly shot up five inches that one night, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"H-huh… Gaa-chan –"

"I'm not done yet."

"What?"

"I'm not done growing and getting stronger. I have to be big and strong enough to protect you. When I get to that stage, I know I'll be ready to make you mine."

Lee's face was crimson red. "You're just a child, Gaa-chan, I think you are confusing what one feels for a mother-figure with someone they are _in_ love with!"

"But I'm _not_ just a child. Shu's always yelling at me, always wanting me to do bad things, and he shows me stuff. Bad stuff. I don't think you could understand all the things I see in my head."

"Gaa-chan…"

"I'm young, but I'm not stupid. I want you to be my wife."

"W-wait, _wife_?"

"Well… you're more like a mom than a dad. So you'd be more like a wife than a husband," Gaara reasoned.

"That makes some sense, but Gaa-chan – you _are_ very young. Once you become an adult, perhaps you'll let go of these… feelings."

"I won't," he swore vehemently. "I don't _want_ to let go of these feelings. I really do l-love you, Lee…" His cheeks were almost as red as his hair. "I'll do anything for you."

The silence was nearly unbearable.

And then Lee gave in. He dragged Gaara into his side with gentle hands and nuzzled his chin into his wild head of red tresses. "All I want you to do for me is be happy, Gaa-chan. Follow the righteous path and live your life to the fullest! YOSH, may the fire of your youth always burn with the intensity of ten suns! … But, mostly, I want you to be happy. And if you want… t-_this_… then I will not stop you."

Gaara's head shot up, nearly clipping the jounin. "I can _have_ you? Right now?"

"NO!" Lee caught hold of himself. "I-I mean… You are still very, _very_ young. If in… ten years? Yes, in ten years if you still love me this way, I will most definitely marry you or live the rest of my life without a lover!"

"It's that easy?"

"No, not really. I am… honored to be your f-first love… In a way, I suppose. I mean, I am flattered, anyway. But it will be hard to remember me ten years down the road when you will be a man, back in your own village, watching over your people, and there will be so many ladies – and, er, men – who will want you to pay attention to them."

"… I thought you had an ego the size of the Fire country."

"Pardon?"

"You really think you're that forgettable?"

"Hah hah! Gaa-chan, I wear green spandex and orange leg warmers, running around at the speed of light and I can brain damage a chimera. I am far from forgettable."

"But you don't really think you're special, do you?"

"I am not anymore important than the next jounin."

"That's not what I meant." Gaara sighed. "You know what? I'm going to spend the next ten years showing you that you're really the greatest person in the world and that everyone else is a loser for not l-l-loving you as much as I do."

"I do not think Naruto-kun has ever 'loved' me as much as you th-, as much as you do."

"He's a loser too." His expression turned dark. "He took your first three kisses."

"Yes, but those were accid-" Lee's eyes widened in understanding. "That's why you have been so upset?"

"Yes."

"There is no need to be. Naruto-kun and I are just friends."

"You two sleep together."

"N-no we do not!"

"I mean, you guys sleep in the same _bed_."

"Oh… well, yes, we do…. But you usually sleep with us, Gaa-chan."

"I don't want him sleeping with you!"

Lee, after a small moment, chuckled. "Gaa-chan, you are being very selfish and inconsiderate. Because, if you think about it, Naruto-kun wants the same thing you do."

"What's that?"

"He wants love… so much. And he likes to cuddle. He has never had someone to run to when he was scared, he had to be fearless quick or else the world would have gobbled him up. I am here for you, and I always will be, but I would like to think that I can be here for Naruto-kun as well. You seem to be forgetting that you two have something in common."

"We're jinchuuraki," Gaara said sagely.

"Well, there is that. And it's more of the reason behind what you two have in common… But, really, I was just thinking that you two act like koala babies. I can not abandon one koala baby in favor of the other, Gaa-chan."

"Koala… babies…?"

"They are very adorable." He chuckled and rested a hand on Gaara's shoulder. "Just like you… and I suppose Naruto-kun is adorable at times."

"But not as adorable as me."

"Heh heh, you are much more adorable, definitely!" He stood to his feet, stretched, and then pulled Gaara to his feet too. "Let's go home, okay?"

"Okay… Lee?"

"Yes?"

"You're going to be mine someday."

Lee sputtered. "W-we shall see!"

.

_Author's Note: Wow, is it just me or did I get heavy into the NaruLee? Geez, I'm going through a phase at the moment… Oh, and if anyone was wondering~_

_Yes, Gai did wear the thong. I hope you're happy, Rhainus!_


End file.
